A tax avoidance scheme, designed to abuse rules set up to encourage genuine medical research, has been successfully challenged by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in court. The rejection of the scheme, promoted by Matrix Securities Ltd, has saved the Treasury almost £80 million. 

A Jersey-registered limited partnership claimed to be trading in the UK, the scheme focused on creating and exploiting intellectual property from research into vaccines targeting diseases such as HIV, flu and hepatitis B.

83 investors in the partnership used £28 million of their own cash and £86 millio...